Maksim covers aerospace developments in Central Asia for Aviation Week. He has worked for Russia's Air Transport Observer magazine and was in charge of several ATO sister aerospace publications after working for the Moscow-based CAST defense think tank.
Maksim has a degree in international relations from MGIMO University, Moscow.
MOSCOW — Helicopter orders from the Russian military are up and commitments for new types are on the horizon, marking a stark turnaround from the days when military orders were unable to sustain Russia’s domestic manufacturing industry.
MOSCOW — A top executive of the Russian KBM machine-building design bureau has confirmed that his company supplied Libyan government forces with the truck-mounted short-range anti-aircraft Igla-S (SA-24 Grinch) missiles recently spotted by the international media. Kolomna-based KBM is the designer of this system, as well as its predecessors, the Strela and Igla family of portable surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), and has a government permit to export its products directly, without the help of Russia’s Rosoboronexport arms trade agency.
Russia hopes that upgrades to the Mi-26, now undergoing flight trials, will help boost the helicopter’s chances in an Indian air force competition. The Mi-26T2 is up against Boeing’s CH-47F Chinook; the order is expected to be for 15 rotorcraft. The -26T2 incorporates improvements based on the operational experience of the previous Mi-26 variants, say officials from Rostvertol, the manufacturer.
